General Question

Jobs for a frequent traveler?

I get to travel often both domestically an intenat’l) for a very low nominal fee. What lawful services may I provide for a fee? If you suggest being a courier, looking for suggestions, websites, books that guide one on how to go about it. Thanks.

17 Answers

@ robmandu – Correct. The most common I can think off would be offering to deliver small cargo/papers for a fee. Looking for guidelines on how to go about it & other options (outside the box thinking) from the collective.

What about looking into companies that hire people to be mystery or secret shoppers? Some airlines, hotels, rental car agencies and restaurant chains might have programs like this for their frequent guests. It would be based upon your existing schedule.

I’m wracking my brain to think of how a courier service might work and am only coming up with the pitfalls.

Should you find something, I highly recommend that you check with your company’s HR department to see if doing whatever it is might be against company policy. Some have very strict rules about things like this.

What type of targeted audience do you think there would be for an independent courier service? Can you think of an example where I would select your service over a company like Federal Express? I think that is where I’m getting hung up on the courier idea.

@pied Perhaps someone that doesn’t want to have any record or the delivery of the document? OMG!, J.J. Abrahams is knocking on my door LoL Kidding aside, this is why I posted the quest here, to see if someone reveals an angle that we haven’t thought about.

What about regional products/delicacies? Everything is pretty connected now, but there are still some regional things that you just can’t find everywhere. My dad always wants me to bring him a brisket from Texas. I tried shipping it once and it was over $100 to get it there overnight.

I know people pay a premium for good maple syrup, their favorite cheesecake, specialty products from well known places in their old stomping grounds, etc. It’s not really something you could do continuously but if people know you’re willing, and travel a lot, they might have you bring something back. People get crazy about their favorites. It might be something you could build up a network for over time.

Same with items from NYC, drop an ad on Craigslist in the city you’re traveling to a week before you leave asking if anyone needs anything from NYC. It might even lead in other directions we aren’t thinking of.

Make sure to check the restricted items for each country. A friend of my father’s had the bright idea of sending me a smoked turkey from the States to New Zealand. It was confiscated. A lot of meat products are like that. But that is a good idea. Norwegians have all these weird foods that they miss when they live overseas.

So, @BronxLens you’d basically be travelling from NY city to other parts of the world. I start thinking about things crafters and trades people want. In NY there is a lot of cool stores. There’s that camera shop run by Hasidic Jews… you know the one? I bet you could find photographers willing to pay a fee to get their hands on some of the hard to find items they carry.

And I bet there are all sorts of wonderful fabric stores, tailors, wedding gown makers…that would LOVE fabric brought from Italy or France.

I always tell my husband to bring me back essential oils from where ever he is. (I’m a soapmaker, so I like to play with fragrances.) But, if you’re ever coming over to Norway, I need a new soap cutter. I can pay for it and have it sent to your address and you can bring it to me. hahahaha

Levi’s jeans are often highly desirable… especially in Asian countries.

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I had a visitor from China come over and he was buying up Levi’s like crazy because they were so inexpensive here vs. over there… which is weird because I think Levi’s has a lot of their product manufactured over there.

You do like photography? I know some people make money out of the photos they take. Or maybe you can be sort of a tourist guide. My friend likes the outdoors and what he does is to post an invitation to people on his Facebook account that he is willing to take and guide people to the places that he explore such as beaches, mountains, etc. He gets a fee for doing that, more than to pay for his food and fares.